21 plus 1, Dawn Follows Even the Darkest Night
by rednebdnim
Summary: -
1. Judgement Passed

**Of course I don't own any of the original characters, stories, concepts etc. of NCIS or otherwise, they belong to their respective owners. However, any characters and/or storylines that I created for this story are mine.**

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**21+1**

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He awoke startled, something was off. He slowly sat up in his bunk. As he was getting reacquainted with his surroundings, listening to the steady hum of the ships engines, taking in the cacophony of sounds that always came with hundreds of people working on a ship, he also searched for that slight pull, the one that had always connected him with his unclaimed soulmate, his, now far away, best friend for many years.

When he realized the implications of the loss of that connection, tears came to his eyes and he collapsed back into his bunk.

--

It had taken him almost an hour to get a grip on himself.

He lurched out of his bunk, dressed and went to the ships communications center to ask them to get him a video conference with NCIS Washington.

Twenty minutes later he was looking at his old boss. Gibbs looked stricken, which was all the confirmation he needed.

"Ziva!"

Gibbs nodded, tears almost visible in his eyes.

--

24 hours later he had managed to arrange a 48 hour leave in order to take care of a fake family emergency. He took a shuttle flight back to shore, continuing to Washington with the first available commercial flight.

--

The second morning after he had lost his unclaimed soulmate, he walked into the NCIS office, wondering if it really had been only two weeks since he used to do that five days a week, many times even more often. It had felt so natural, now it was so unreal.

When he came to the bullpen, Gibbs already sat at his desk, waiting for him. The two men hugged, which they had never before, their unspoken father-son bond notwithstanding. Both were trying to keep their composure, fighting back the tears that claimed their way into freedom again and again for almost two days now.

The younger man excused himself, stating he just wanted to take care of something real quick. When he walked over to the elevator Gibbs assumed he was going to see Abby or Ducky to share their grief. But that was not true. Instead of going down, the elevator traveled up one floor.

--

He quickly walked past MTAC, not wanting Gibbs to see where he was really going. Entering the vestibule where Cynthia was working, he told her that somebody from MTAC needed her. She needed to be clear off this.

Seeing Cynthia leave, he opened the door to the directors office.

"Hello, Vance!"

--

Gibbs spun around as he heard gunshots coming from the floor above him.

7 shots and then a brief pause.

Gibbs was running towards the stairs to the next level.

7 more shots echoed through the halls of NCIS, followed by another pause.

Gibbs was at the bottom of the stairs.

Another 7 shots pierced into his ears, followed by silence.

He reached the second landing.

One final shot came from the directors office.

And he collapsed on the stairs, knowing that he had lost the second agent within 48 hours.

"Tony!"

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	2. Survivor?

**Of course, I don't own any of the original characters, stories, concepts etc. of NCIS or otherwise, they belong to their respective owners. However, any characters and/or storylines that I have created for this story are mine.**

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AN: When I wrote the first chapter to this story, was sort of in a dark mood. That has gotten lighter since then. This is a try to continue the story, please let me know what you think.

And, yes I know this chapter is sort of brief ;)

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**21+1**

**Chapter 2: Survivor?**

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5 months later, in Beersheba, Israel, Gibbs exited the main train station through the front exit. The hot, and extremely dry, desert climate felt like a heavy weight on his shoulders, as if there wasn't enough weight on them already. He fetched a cab, relishing the cool air of the air conditioning inside when he got in, and told the driver to drop him off at Soroka Medical Center. He was on a mission. His mission was to find out if the impossible really had happened.

He had been told that in this hospital, there was a young Jane Doe, lying in a deep coma for a little more than 5 months now. A woman, fitting Ziva's general description so well, he just had to come here himself to make sure. He didn't know what to think, a not so small part of him even hoping it wouldn't be her. Her possible survival just would render Tony's desperate reaction and actions even more obsolete, futile and senseless than they were when he tried to see them as an act of revenge. Revenge for a loss that might have never been real.

But why would they have doubted the information Mossad had passed onto them, telling them that the former liason officer with NCIS had been killed on her very first day back at Mossad.

There were many reasons to doubt the actual circumstances of her death, but her death itself never had been in question for him. Any lingering doubt he might have had was erased when he had been told that his former Senior Special Agent had requested an urgent video conference, when he had been in MTAC, seeing Tony, his expression begging him to say that what his heart told him wasn't true.

Gibbs forced himself to keep walking, no matter how awful he would feel after he made sure, because right now everything seemed better than not knowing.

The second he entered Jane Doe's room, he knew it was her, this wasn't Jane Doe's room anymore, it was Ziva David's!

He immediately left the room, ran for the staircase and screamed in frustration the second the door behind him fell shut.

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End file.
